Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Fat City: Part Two

Donald Trump sent a letter to Donna Shalala this week to tell the Miami president that she royally screwed up by hiring Randy Shannon.

In the letter, Trump reminds Shalala that he recommended Miami hire Mike Leach of Texas Tech. Leach met informally with the search committee last December, but the meeting did not go well, according to Jorge Milian of the Palm Beach Post.

While Miami was getting hammered last Saturday by Virginia Tech, Texas Tech was upsetting Oklahoma.

In his letter to Shalala, Trump wrote: "You are my friend, but you should have listened to me. If you did, your team would be fighting for the National Championship."

The letter was confirmed by Rhona Graff, a Trump assistant.

"I got the letter and I laughed," Shalala said through a university spokesman.

Miami's a small private school with few alums and no fans at all unless they're winning big. Look at all their previous hires - try and find one where they went and spent big to hire a coach away from another high profile school. Their facilities are crappy as well, and always have been.